Waterman Amanda H, Havelka Jelena, Culmer Peter R, Hill Liam J B, Mon-Williams Mark
School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.
School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2015 Jan 7;282(1798):20140896. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0896.
Humans have evolved a remarkable ability to remember visual shapes and use these representations to generate motor activity (from Palaeolithic cave drawings through Jiahu symbols to cursive handwriting). The term visual-motor memory (VMM) describes this psychological ability, which must have conveyed an evolutionary advantage and remains critically important to humans (e.g. when learning to write). Surprisingly, little empirical investigation of this unique human ability exists--almost certainly because of the technological difficulties involved in measuring VMM. We deployed a novel technique for measuring this construct in 87 children (6-11 years old, 44 females). Children drew novel shapes presented briefly on a tablet laptop screen, drawing their responses from memory on the screen using a digitizer stylus. Sophisticated algorithms (using point-registration techniques) objectively quantified the accuracy of the children's reproductions. VMM improved with age and performance decreased with shape complexity, indicating that the measure captured meaningful developmental changes. The relationship between VMM and scores on nationally standardized writing assessments were explored with the results showing a clear relationship between these measures, even after controlling for age. Moreover, a relationship between VMM and the nationally standardized reading test was mediated via writing ability, suggesting VMM's wider importance within language development.
人类已经进化出一种非凡的能力，能够记住视觉形状，并利用这些表征来产生运动活动（从旧石器时代的洞穴壁画到贾湖符号，再到草书）。视觉运动记忆（VMM）这一术语描述了这种心理能力，它必定传递了一种进化优势，并且对人类仍然至关重要（例如在学习写字时）。令人惊讶的是，对于这种独特的人类能力，几乎没有实证研究——几乎可以肯定是因为测量VMM存在技术困难。我们采用了一种新技术来测量87名儿童（6至11岁，44名女性）的这种结构。孩子们绘制在平板电脑屏幕上短暂呈现的新形状，使用数字手写笔在屏幕上凭记忆画出他们的答案。复杂的算法（使用点注册技术）客观地量化了孩子们复制的准确性。VMM随着年龄增长而提高，表现随着形状复杂性的增加而下降，这表明该测量方法捕捉到了有意义的发育变化。我们探究了VMM与全国标准化写作评估分数之间的关系，结果表明即使在控制年龄之后，这些测量之间也存在明显的关系。此外，VMM与全国标准化阅读测试之间的关系是通过写作能力介导的，这表明VMM在语言发展中具有更广泛的重要性。
